Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas! Today I have a story about a little-known outlaw that I think you'll find interesting. Her name is Pearl Hart and she was a small time thief out West in the late 1800's.
She was born in Canada and came from a good, middle class family but she fell for a dirt-bag gambler named Fred and they eloped, she was 17 at the time. They went to Chicago where Fred worked as a barker for the Columbian Exposition and she worked side jobs.
There were two major influences in her life that hit her at that time. One was when she attended one of Wild West shows and saw Annie Oakley perform. The other was at the Chicago World Fair and listened to some women speakers who were activists talking about feminism.
She loved the idea of being out in the Old West, which by this time was disappearing, and she saw herself as a strong, independant woman. Which she wasn't but wanted to be.
Pearl married a real loser
Fred was a lousy husband. He was drinking heavily, he gambled all their money away and he was abusive so she left him and traveled West to Colorado and became a popular saloon singer. She also found out she was pregnant with Fred's baby so she went back home to Canada and had the child there.
She didn't stay there though, she liked her lifestyle in the West so she left the baby with her mom and went South again, this time to Arizona. She worked as a cook in a restaurant and Fred found her and convinced her to give him another shot at marriage. He promised to be more stable and get a steady job, which he did.
More bad choices
The problem is they started going to all the gambling halls and Pearl started smoking and drinking and even started smoking marijuana and taking morphine which was the drug of choice at the time.
They had a second baby but their marriage deteriorated. Fred was bored with married life and was tired of supporting a family. He knocked her unconscious in a big argument and ran off to join the army. Wow what a worthless pile of crap. Good riddance scumbag!
Pearl then goes back home to Canada but she couldn't stand it, the call of the West was still on her so she left to go South again, leaving her two kids behind!
This lady made more bad decisions than I can keep track of! She almost reminds me of a female Elmer from a couple of posts ago! lol. It's sad really, not funny, so I shouldn't be laughing.
Pearl chooses another idiot
Ok, so she goes back to Arizona and hooks up with a cat named Boot, he was a real winner also, trying to be a miner. It wasn't long before she got a letter from her brother in Canada saying that their mom was sick and they needed money for medical bills.
Well shoot, Pearl needs to come up with some money fast because that's not just her mom we're talking about but her babysitter! Pearl sure as heck doesn't want to have to go back to Cananda again and get stuck taking care of her own kids! Heaven forbid.
Well Boot comes to the rescue because see, he's been thinking about robbing a stagecoach! lol. There are very few left in the whole nation what with the proliferation of railroads everywhere but there is one that he knows about.
This is like Pearl's dream come true. She'll get to take part in a real Wild West event, ride a horse and carry a gun..just like she's fantasized for years.
The big heist
The day of the robbery came. Pearl had cut her hair short and dressed in men's clothes to diguise herself. The stage hadn't been robbed in so many years that they didn't have a shotgun guard, just the driver.
Pearl and Boot jumped out in front of the stage and stopped the driver. Boot held up the drive while Pearl had all the passengers get out and empty their pockets, purses and wallets. She collected a little over $450 which in today's money is about $14,000. She felt a little compassion however, and gaveback $1 to each of them. lol.
So far so good. They rode off into the desert. The problem is, they didn't know the lay of the land and didn't know the desert. That means they got lost and basically rode around in circles.
The third night they were camped in a grove of trees with a nice fire going at night. When they woke up the next morning they were surrounded by the Sheriff's posse.
The trial
The trial went very well for Pearl. She was charming, it was her first offense, the jury felt compassion after hearing that she was just trying to get money for her mom's medical bills. She was very convincing on the stand and they acquitted her.
The judge was highly upset though and said that she had "flirted" with the jury. He put together a new jury and tried her for the illegal possession of a firearm.
This jury didn't buy her story and she was sentenced to 5 years in the Yuma, Arizona Territorial Prison.
The girl had spunk though. While she was waiting in jail to be transported to prison she dug through a wall and escaped. She was caught soon after but she was already getting lots of press coverage so this event only added to her fame as a "lady bandit."
Once she got to prison she was given some special treatment like and extra large cell and access to reporters who kept coming around for interviews. Of course the warden loved the press coverage so he was delighted so the perks continued.
This prison photo looks awful rough, I think it was staged by the press for dramatic affect:
The press built her up saying that she was the only female bandit to ever hold up a stage, which wasn't true. Belle Starr held up a stage and there was one other female who held one up. They also said that this was the last stage coach robbery in the Old West and that wasn't true either but what can you say, does the press ever fail to exaggerate?
Pearl didn't serve her 5 years because she got pregnant again! The warden said she was paroled for good behavior but everyone knows that he didn't want to explain how she got pregnant while in his prison. lol.
She did give up on her criminal behavior though. She married an Arizona rancher and lived a quiet life until she passed in the 1950's.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
PS- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:
You keep a fly swatter in the car so you can reach the kids in the back seat!